Honor to the Stars Online
by gallantmon7196
Summary: Ten Million players are trapped in the first VRMMORPG game to be released outside of Japan, five years after SAO ended. Join Drake as he tries to complete the game by winning an intergalactic war. Full, detailed summary on the inside.


**Okay, Okay, before all of you go on a rant about me creating yet another story, I apologize but this is a good idea.**

**For those who don't know me/this profile, Welcome! This is my latest SAO fanfic that I have been dying to write for little over two months. Here's the summary.**

**IMPORTANT: For those who are reading my other SAO fanfic, The Crimson Demon, I would like to say that this isn't a sequel of any kind. This is a separate story altogether.**

_**This story is set five years after the Sword Art Online incident, that caused a total of 4000 deaths. After the incident, VRMMO (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplier Online) games almost ended before the style could even take off, and the events with ALO didn't improve matters. However VRMMO's are coming back, but slowly. This was suppose to change with the release of a brand new game; Honor to the Stars Online, or HSO. It is a space age game where different factions are in a galactic war for complete dominance. Players, counting up to ten million, make up the Earth-Borns with all other factions being completely AI. Now the ten million payers are trapped with the only way of exiting being to win this war. Let the carnage begin. **_

**Disclaimer: I don't own the SAO series, though I wish I did. I also don't own any other company mentioned in this story.**

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Chapter 1: The New Game on the Market

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###New York City, November 5, 2029, 11:48 pm, Eastern Standard Time, GameStop###

Drake stood in line, like everybody else, holding his ticket as if it was his life line. All around him other people, gamers, stood around the small gaming store chatting loudly with each other. They were all here for one reason and one reason only. To get Honor to the Stars Online, or HSO. Almost of these people were first-timers, this game is the first Virtual Reality game of this caliber to come to the States. Drake smiled slightly to himself, most of these people here are noobs, this game probably being their first Dive. But he isn't one of them. He's a survivor. One of the six thousand people to survive hell, one of the people that survived Sword Art Online.

"Hey, Drake, almost didn't see ya!"

Drake looked over to see a person about his height, standing at six feet solid. His olive skin a dark contrast to Drake's much paler shade. He brown eyes shining brightly.

"Hey, J.D. How have you been?"

The two of them fist-bump and share a bro-hug. Pulling back, J.D. stands about two feet from Drake.

"Hey man, you weren't in class today. We were all worried about you."

Drake afforded to let out a large laugh. He knew his friends would worry about him, given his near impeccable attendance record.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Today was important."

"Wh...oh."

J.D. fell silent after that, and the two of them stood in an awkward silence after that. J.D. knew why today was important to Drake, hell, their entire group of friends knew what today was. Today, seven years ago was the death of Drake's brother. Drake silently gritted his teeth at the memory of Dwayne's, his older brother, lifeless body fly through the air.

'Why? Why did that have to happen?'

Dwayne was Drakes brother by about nine years. He was born right after Drake's parents got married and they had to concentrate of taking care of them selves and the baby. When they were completely financially secured with good jobs, that was when they decide to have Drake. Even though they had a vast difference in age, Drake and Dwayne were close. Dwayne would take care of him when their parents were away on business, or help him with his school word when Drake needed the help. When Drake was really young, Dwayne would let him play his rated M games like GTA when their parents weren't home. Dwayne was awesome like that. But when nine, Dwayne left to Japan to attend school there. That's when everything started going down hill.

"Ten minutes until midnight! Everyone needs to get in line."

The call of the store manager rips J.D. and Drake out of their individual trains of thought. The two of them nod and promise to meet up with everyone when the servers open tomorrow. J.D. then turned around and walked off to his spot in line with his brother. Drake felt a small pang of jealousy as he saw the ttwo of them standing next together, wishing he could have his brother back. He looked at the twins, identical in almost every way except personalities. Only Drake, who has known the two of them since kindergarten could tell the two of them apart. J.D. has longer hair on his head at two inches and regularly shaved. While his twin, D.J. had his hair close shaved and had a constant stubble of a beard. Drake chuckled to himself softly when he remembered their reunion after he was in Japan for two and a half years, with Sword Art Online and then rehabilitation.

"Five more minutes!"

After a lot of pushing, shoving, yelling and muffled screams, everyone got into their designated spot in line. Courtesy of the number on the ticket presented to them at the time that they pre-ordered the game. Drake looked up at the T.V. hanging on the wall behind the stores counter. It was turned to a special live stream being hosted by Omni softworks, a relatively unknown company before the announcement of the game. In truth it caught most people by surprise, but Drake knew that they were really Argus, the company that originally created Sword Art Online. Why? Well, Drake didn't have the full details, but he knew that Argus went bankrupt after another incident with a game called Alfheim Online. There were even more lawsuits after that, and Argus simply ran out of money. So they 'disbanded' and reformed into Omni Softworks.

"One minute!"

Everyone, with the exception of Drake, cheered when the timer hit the one minute mark. Now they were sixty mere seconds away from getting the game. In unison, everyone began counting down.

"60...59...58...57..."

For the first time that night, Drake smiled. He was excited, like everyone else, he always had a special place in his heart for the Sci-Fi FPS genre, and now there was a massive one being released. And it was in virtual reality, so all he could think about was it being Sword Art Online...with guns!

"45...44...43..."

But Drake felt a pang of sadness wash over him briefly. FPS games were always a favorite of Dwayne.

"40...39...38...37...36..."

The tension was thick inside the small store, everyone watched eagerly as the clock counted down the last thirty seconds.

"29...28...27..."

Almost all of them have been watching out for game news since the first announcement trailer almost three years ago.

"...22...21...20...19..."

Their thirst for playing the game, borderline dehydration. With so few demos out there.

"...15...14...13...12..."

There had only been the first demo shown last year at E3. And only game play trailers for extra satisfaction.

"10...9...8...7..."

Drake remembered when he got to play a half-hour demo at the New York Comic Con just under a month ago. It didn't have anything about the story. But instead it was a ten versus ten firefight match in an arena. Drake could only describe it in one word. Awesome. Smiling, he joined in last few seconds.

"5...4...3...2...1!"

A cheer erupted throughout the entire crowd. Employees and customers. The game was now officially on the market and thy were all ready to get their hands on it.

"First one in line, please step forward."

Another crowd erupted as the first person in line stepped forward, her money clutched readily in her hand. Drake recognized her, mentally slapping himself for not earlier. Her name was Alexandra, she was about his height with long chestnut colored hair and beautiful hazel eyes, the two of them had known each other for years and Drake did have a crush on her. Anyways, Alexandra stepped up to the counter as everyone cheered loudly. She displayed her Driver's License, saying that she was seventeen years old and handed the money to the cashier. In return the game was handed to her and everyone cheered again. Ducking her head down, Alexandra rushed out of the store, but Drake could see a small smile grace her face.

"Next in line!"

Drake turned to see everyone looking at him in anticipation. Smiling, he stepped up to the counter, pulling a credit card out of his pocket. Walking up to the only cash register station (it's a small store) he placed the card one the counter along with his I.D.

"Sorry, I forgot my receipt."

"It's okay, we can look it up in the system. Name?"

"Drake Westbrook."

The employee typed Drake's name into the computer and hit the Enter button. After a quick scroll, the employee nodded.

"Yes, it says you have a reservation here, that'll be eighty bucks. And I also need you I.D."

Drake handed his I.D. to the employee and then slid the credit card through the machine.

"Will that be debit or credit?"

"Debit."

The employee simply nodded and pressed the proper buttons. Drake signed his name on the pad and received the copy. Walking from the counter, Drake received a cheer from everybody in line. Walking J.D. and D.J. he high fives both of them and walks out the door. Stepping out of the store, Drake look down the block in amazement as the line kept stretching on and on. Turning around Drake walked down to semi-safe streets of New York City and reached his parent's car. Due to Drake having his license and his parents believing he's responsible enough, they let him borrow the car to go to the event. Unlocking the doors and sliding in, Drake let out sigh of relief. Hopefully this will be different. Hopefully, this won't end up like Sword Art Online.

Too tired to drive, Drake locked the doors again and dozed off to dream land.

###End of Chapter 1###

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**Well, I hope that those who read it through liked it and will continue by following the story.**

**Also drop a review, I don't really demand/ask for a long one, just some thing of your thoughts.**

**Until next time everyone!**


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